


In Pieces On the Floor

by Anamakorga



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Character Death, Angst with a Happy Ending, Ben Hargreeves Needs A Hug, But 2/3 are dead so, Everyone Needs A Hug, Gen, Happy?, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, SO, Sad, They all need therapy, and therapy, but not, ehhh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 13:47:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19870633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anamakorga/pseuds/Anamakorga
Summary: Everyone knew that there was every possibility that Five was dead.That doesn't mean they'd come to terms with it.Besides, knowing that there is a possibility of something and knowing that something has happened are two completely different things.It was only ever a matter of waiting for the right day for Five to appear.





	In Pieces On the Floor

**Author's Note:**

> What's that? If I want fluffy TAU fics, I should just write some instead of adding to the ever-growing pile of angst? What?
> 
> You get Klaus angst before you get Five angst.
> 
> YAY

"So, I've come to a conclusion," Klaus says. He's drunk off his ass trying to keep himself from being able to see some of the worse ghosts. Alcohol has never been the best option for that particular task, but it's better than nothing and Klaus hasn't had many means of gaining funds lately.  
"What's that?" Ben asks, sitting down on the ratty carpet of the cheap motel the two of them have taken up residence in.

"Okay, so firstly, the world is against the two of us _specifically,_ " Klaus tells him.

"Honestly? I would not be surprised."

"And, uh, secondly, life is bad."  
"Death is worse," Ben says. He means it as a joke, but it's still true.  
"Existence is a curse?" Klaus offers.  
"Absolutely,"  
"I think I read that in a book somewhere. I dunno, really."

"It's possible. Even probable, I'd say."  
"Why does life- sorry, _existence_ have to be so shitty?" Klaus says, raising himself up to his full height, as though he's about to start a reverse inspirational speech.  
"That's just the way it is, I guess," Ben says. He isn't sure where this is going, and if it's somewhere self-deprecating he doesn't want to be an active supporter of what Klaus is saying, so he tries to remain neutral.  
"Well, _I don't like it._ " Klaus whines, stomping a foot down on the thin floor hard enough to rattle the windows.  
 _"_ Then do something about it."

"What? Should I-," Klaus chuckles a humourless chuckle. "Assemble a group of child superheroes to fight crime? Because I hear that works _very_ well."  
Ben sighs in the most encouraging way humanly possible. "Go on another self-improvement kick. You know we're all for those here."

"No we're not."  
" _I'm_ all for those here."

"What are we gonna do?" Klaus says, mostly to himself. His voice has taken on an edge, and Ben, who is too intangible to be cold, shivers.  
"I just told you-,"

"That doesn't work. It never works. I've _tried._ But I'm- still a mess. I rely on you to be my _impulse control._ My _dead brother._ " Klaus looks like he's about to punch something.

"Hey, Klaus-,"  
"You know it's true. I'm stupid, and you're not, and you're over here all like 'why is he like this', and-,"

"No! When have I ever said that?" There are a lot of things wrong with Klaus' statement, and his breaths are worryingly shallow and quick, but Ben focuses on one thing. One thing at a time.  
"You're thinking it!" Klaus shouts, and it occurs to Ben that should anyone walk into the room right now his brother would look absolutely crazy.  
"I am not _thinking_ it. Why would I be thinking it? You may think you're a screw-up, but trust me, you're no _more_ of a screw-up than any of the rest of us. The only one of us seven who turned out even halfway decent is Vanya, and she's powerless."

Klaus looks up suddenly. "You know what- how- they- you know how they are?"

"I may or may not check in on my other siblings on occasion." Ben says. He sounds cagey, he knows, and he feels bad for using Klaus' unusually strong loyalty to his siblings to get him to calm down and pay attention.

"How are they? Are they doing okay?" Klaus asks, ignoring Ben's tone of voice. He pales. "They're not still living with-,"  
"No!" Ben says. "No, they're not. Luther's the only one, and Reginald sent him to the moon because-," Ben stalls. "He was getting, I don't know how to say- you know-,"  
"Luther-y?" Klaus laughs. "Yeah, I know."

"It's hard _not_ to know what's up with Allison," Ben says absently. "Diego was kicked out of police academy for doing his own Diego thing, and then that's just Vanya, who, like I said, turned out alright."  
"How alright are we talking? Is she like, the mayor of some small town or some shit? Has she gone on to publish seventeen more books and be _wildly successful?_ "  
"No, she's just- normal. She plays the violin-,"  
"Surprise!"  
Ben snickers. "-In an orchestra, and teaches it to kids. I don't know, really, but I think she's-," Lonely. He was going to finish that with lonely, but that's the kind of thing that seems private, and Ben stops short of finishing his sentence.

"What?" Klaus asks, raising an eyebrow at his spectral brother.

"Nothing." Ben says. "I don't know."

* * *

Klaus and Ben, at least so far as they know, are the first to actually show up for the funeral. Neither of them intended it, of course, but when the two of them walk through the double doors up front nobody else makes themselves known.

They slink around for a while, making it to dear old Reggie's office before they see any of their siblings (they've seen quite a few ghosts, but to the relief of both brothers, Reginald himself is nowhere in sight). Allison is pleasant - she even laughs at a crack Klaus makes about their adoptive father, and Klaus is beginning to think that either he should reevaluate how he sees his siblings or that Three has gotten a personality transplant lately.

Then Luther is there, and he's bigger than even Luther has any right to be. Klaus neglects to repeat Ben's comment - he's gotten rather good at giving people more reasons to hate him over the years, but that's no reason to insult Luther, who could throw him across the room if he so chose.

The words are also a little too harsh, a little too _real_ for Klaus' liking. Ben and Luther's relationship had never been all that great before Ben died. Before Five had left, Five, Klaus, and Ben had been like a band of merry troublemakers, roaming around the mansion in search of a cure to the seemingly endless boredom that their early childhoods had produced. Then once Five had left, Ben had taken up his mantle of keeping Vanya company as a second family member with a brain in his head. Neither of these things made him exactly for Luther's whole no-nonsense, no-improvisation plans.

* * *

The funeral goes predictably well, in that in ends with Diego and Luther fighting over Reginald and leaving the four of them to watch and try and avoid getting caught in the crossfire. Luther punches Ben's statue and it goes down, the head clattering off and rolling across the muddy ground.

"Disrespect!" Ben shouts from next to Klaus, his tone light. "Disrespect to the dead! This is it! The final straw!"

Klaus has to suppress a snicker. When the funeral has reached its quick end, Klaus crouches over the ashes of the man who was called a father but never treated his children like one, and sticks his cigarette in them. Ben cheers.

They travel back into the house, and Klaus shakes off his umbrella before travelling to the library.

He stops.

Sitting there is a child aged 12-14 with jet black hair and the unmistakable maroon of the Umbrella Academy uniform wrapped around his skinny frame. After about thirty seconds or so, the air around him distorts, and it's as though his body breaks into a thousand tiny little pieces, which separate for just a moment before reforming into the shape they had been. Then he falls to the ground, twitching and writhing on the floor in abject agony for just a minute before he pushes himself back up into an upright position, breathing heavily.

"Five?" Klaus asks, his voice shaky and weak.

Everyone knew that there was every possibility that Five was dead. That doesn't mean they'd come to terms with it. Besides, knowing that there is a possibility of something and knowing that something has happened are two completely different things. It occurred to Klaus that it was really only ever a matter of waiting for the right day for Five to appear. There was nothing that they could have done, was there?

Five turns suddenly, and it's as though he's just a character in a lagging game cut-scene as his features blend together, left behind in the giant jigsaw puzzle that is Five's body before his anatomy corrects itself. He reaches a hand up to try and rub at his eyes, and as the two meld into one it comes to the attention of both brothers that Five, stoic number Five, must have been crying.

"Hi." Five says, the word easily distinguishable despite the obvious hindrance, and for once Klaus is glad for the fact that all ghosts can communicate clearly.

Ben rushes over to Five and tries to put a hand on his shoulder, but instead he simply sinks through.

"Are you okay?" He asks, removing the hand.

"No." Five snaps. "I'm _dead._ "

* * *

The world ends eight days later, with the three of them hanging around the library being useless because for once they are allowed to.

They die.

The world ends eight days later, and the three of them (along with presumably everyone else in the world) end up in the afterlife, and they stick together, being useless, because for once they are allowed to.

**Author's Note:**

> Me to me, writing this fic: This is not a happy ending this is bullshit
> 
> Me to me, writing this fic: well yes but shhhhhh


End file.
